Conjuring images of a blue battler of some kind, Azure Striker Gunvolt blasts onto the 3DS’ action/platformer scene with tight, ruthless gameplay, smooth 16-bit-influenced animation, and more than enough loving reverence to Capcom’s lost-to-the-ages mascot. The HOTT GAME BOYZ return, 3DSes in hand, as they discuss whether Azure Striker Gunvolt is a worthy successor to the games it proudly imitates… or if it’s just a limp copy!
First off, as usual, a little background–what’s your experience with the Mega Man Zero and Mega Man ZX franchises? What were you expecting from Azure Striker Gunvolt?
JOSEPH LUSTER: I actually haven’t played too many of the portable-only Mega Man games, and just dabbled a bit in Zero. I know a lot of people dig them but something about Zero rubbed me the wrong way and I never had a great time with it, so I wasn’t expecting too much from Azure Striker Gunvolt. It came out of as “the game I kind of want to play while I wait for Mighty No. 9 to be finished.”
NATE MING: I played the original Mega Man Zero on GBA, but wasn’t particularly hooked on it at the time–I only really got into it years later with Mega Man Zero Collection on DS. I found ‘em to be pretty fun action games that focused on aggressively charging ahead and fighting at point-blank range. I was expecting something similar from Azure Striker Gunvolt–rapid-fire action with some platforming dexterity as a side requirement. I guess due to my past disinterest in the Zero series, I’ve never tried ZX.
The game is built around using the two defensive mechanics–Flashfield (a devensive shield that doubles as your main method of attack) and Prevasion (automatically dodge attacks and negate damage as long as you have Flashfield meter). How do you feel this worked compared to similar games’ more aggressive playstyles?
J: I’m a little torn on Gunvolt‘s mechanics. On one hand it really is satisfying to tag enemies and zap the hell out of them with Flashfield, but it also slows the pacing down for me and it seems like it affected level design decisions a little too much. I know really good players can probably get through in a more impressive manner, but the mechanics made everything seem very stop-and-go.
N: It threw me off at first, pretty hard. I thought I had the option of using Flashfield sparingly while gunning enemies down, but the tag-and-flash mechanic really sets it apart. My only real problem with it is that the levels–as Joseph said–become very stop-and-go, and that any sense of forward momentum is lost the second you stop to fight it out with a couple lameass normal enemies. They also don’t throw very many enemies at you at once–sometimes there’ll be lots of bullets or missiles or a swarm of cyberbugs or something, but it’s usually just Gunvolt and two to three smaller enemies, or Gunvolt and one medium-to-huge enemy, so despite the fact that you can tag eight targets (with a later upgrade), you don’t get to truly push your limits.
As an action/platformer, how do you think Azure Striker Gunvolt handles level design and boss battles? What about compared to the games it’s inspired by?
J: Between level design and boss battles, the latter wins out by a wide margin in Gunvolt. It’s not even that the bosses are that amazing, but they have some fun and at times trick patterns, whereas the level design was the biggest disappointment to me.
Compare the flow and structure of levels here to, say, the recently-released and very excellent Shovel Knight for a clear example of why things come off as vanilla in Gunvolt. Even compared to the games that inspired it Gunvolt falls short in this department, and I never really wanted to go back and replay anything after completing it.
Also, man, I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say this but I really didn’t feel like doing a boss rush thing. Even with a break in the middle of it the boss fights weren’t great enough to go through again, and while I know some people love the challenge, I think it’s lazy. Give me some cool new bosses instead of recycling the old ones like eeeevery other Mega Man style game.
N: Gunvolt‘s levels are kinda boring, to be honest. While every iteration of the Mega Man franchise (save maybe Battle Network) has taken the long, straight hallway approach every now and then, it’s used sparingly and there are times where you have to navigate a long fall or make your way up a tower. There’s not much verticality in ASG, and again it comes back to the stop-and-go fighting–run down a hall, tag-and-flash, then continue running down a hall and maybe jump onto a horizontally-moving platform or two. There are a few spots where you get to use Flashfield for traversal (like powering a lift or slowing your descent down a single long fall), but they’re used so sparingly in a game that should constantly be making you decide whether to use Flashfield for fighting or traversal, and keep you on the razor’s edge.
Boss fights, on the other hand, are pretty slick. Each one requires a different mindset and some pretty sneaky and unexpected win patterns. Since you have to decide whether to attack (using up meter via Flashfield) or try and dodge the bosses’ screen-filling attacks (also using up meter via Prevasion), you’re frantically trying to charge up your meter, score a few hits, then get back to dodging around the boss room like a lunatic. I also agree with Joe that the boss rush in this game was pretty poorly-placed and a real pain in the ass. I’m okay with taking on multiple stages of a final boss with no break, but doing four followed by a two-stage final boss was pretty stressful–thankfully, they at least put a checkpoint between the boss rush and the final battle.
Let’s talk about the crafting and challenges systems in the game. You’re able to replay every level–is it worth it to go back?
J: I guess I accidentally already answered this one, at least in part! I’d say no, and it’s a shame there’s so much randomness built into acquiring items to craft with. It sure seems like there are a lot of handy items and whatnot to make, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to bother playing through levels just to get to the match game and hope I obtain the right stuff. A proper shop would have been preferable.
N: So, basically what happens when you finish a level is you get graded on your score, and that grade gives you a number of chances to claim items from a randomized board. This is how you get crafting items, and it makes little to no sense, really only serving to extend the game’s life. Crafting new items (like a double jump or air dash, which would be really helpful, in addition to crazy screen-clearing attacks) requires pretty high numbers of crafting items plus money, so it’s frustrating when you blow five or six chances on… just money, and maybe one crafting item. Now imagine this happening after like ten levels’ worth of play, and you realize that the only way you’re going to actually level all this stuff up is to maybe luck out in New Game+, and–if you’re me–you’re ready to just say “the hell with it” and fight with a barebones loadout.
Mighty Gunvolt is a cool 8-bit-styled extra that’s included as a free download with early purchases of Azure Striker Gunvolt, including Mighty No. 9‘s Beck and GalGun‘s Ekoro. What did you think about this second title included with ASG?
J: I… actually like Mighty Gunvolt more than ASG! It’s super easy but it reminds me of a game I would have been really into as a kid. I ended up playing through it with all three characters, but was disappointed to find nothing really happened as a result. Was this your experience, too? Am I missing something?
Anyway, it doesn’t matter. Mighty Gunvolt was a great idea and it was really swell of them to throw it in as a free download. Gunvolt’s electric shock move destroys here, it was fun to get a little taste of playing as Beck, and Ekoro can turn enemies into friends! The music is pretty catchy, too.
N: I was kind of disappointed with Mighty Gunvolt in terms of its difficulty (ASG gets pretty mean when you fight its Protoman-alike and that ridiculous last-form final boss), but the three different characters were fun to play through the game in actually different ways. I, too, was disappointed that there was no real payoff for using all three characters, but the soundtrack is great and the game was fun, so that’s good enough for me.
Any final thoughts on either game?
J: I don’t want it to sound like I had NO fun with Azure Striker Gunvolt. It’s a decent action game with some good ideas, and it’s designed not to be difficult to complete but to challenge those who want to play it well. It’s almost designed more like a shoot ‘em up than a platformer in that regard, especially when it comes to the scoring system. The story can go jump in a trash can for all I care, though.
N: I haven’t been mentioning the story because 1- it’s stupid and 2- you can skip it entirely, so that’s exactly what I did. The problem is that they’re constantly pulling you out of the game to listen to Gunvolt’s blah-blah about how superhumans have it rough, and yet melancholy characters like X and Zero didn’t have this much narrative thrown at us (because we kinda already knew what we were fighting fooooooor). Azure Striker Gunvolt has its heart in the right place, but bland level design and a main combat mechanic that’s interesting (defend and attack at the same time!) but ultimately detrimental to the momentum of what should be a fast and furious actioner make the game only kinda cool. A nice throwback, but here’s hoping IntiCreates does better on the next go-around… and Mighty No. 9 will be out early next year, too.
JOE’S REVIEW ROUNDUP
+ Some slick action for those who want to get good at it
+ Nice visual style that recalls the Mega Man Zero/ZX games
+ Fun little NES-style bonus game!
- Lame story and too much of it
- Drab level design with sometimes-awkward pacing
- Half-baked crafting system that’s not enticing enough to warrant replays
NATE’S REVIEW ROUNDUP
+ Really evokes the feel of classic 16/32-bit action-platformers in visuals, style, and character
+ Short and sweet–all killer, no filler, with New Game+ if you want more
+ Mighty Gunvolt is a fresh, unexpectedly fun bonus game, if kind of easy
+/- Combat mechanics are fresh and inspired, but flatten any sense of momentum
+/- Story is dumber than a bag of hammers, but it’s all skippable
- Crafting system is nonsensical and far too time-consuming
Read more here: Crunchy Roll
No comments:
Post a Comment